Kirsty Hanson: Tottenham's Smart Signing for WSL Ambitions
Kirsty Hanson’s name has not dominated the summer headlines. It probably should.
While the Women’s Super League has welcomed a wave of high-profile overseas arrivals, Tottenham may have made one of the shrewdest moves of the window by turning to a proven force much closer to home. Hanson, 28, has traded Aston Villa for Spurs, and the numbers behind that switch demand attention.
Last season she finished as the WSL’s third-highest scorer. Twelve goals in 22 games, in a team that finished ninth. Only Khadija Shaw and Alessia Russo found the net more often. Hanson didn’t just shine; she carried Villa’s attack. She scored 43% of their league goals, hit the target with half of her attempts, and still found time to create chances and press from the front.
This was not a flash in the pan. It was the peak of a steady climb.
From rebuilding at Villa to a new stage at Spurs
Hanson arrived at Villa in 2022 on loan from Manchester United needing a reset. Her early years at United had been significant, helping to build the club’s professional women’s side, but regular minutes had become scarce. Confidence dipped. She needed a manager and a club willing to build around her.
Villa gave her that. The loan became permanent, the form followed. One hundred appearances, 26 goals, two player-of-the-season awards. By the time she left, the player who had arrived searching for belief was one of the league’s most reliable forwards.
“I've got to thank Villa so much. They know that I left on good terms. I really enjoyed my time,” she told BBC Sport, reflecting on a spell that clearly reshaped her career.
The gratitude is genuine, but so is the sense of timing. She had outgrown the role of lone talisman in a mid-table side.
The next step had to be about ambition.
“It was obviously a very tough decision to leave Villa but just looking at Spurs, you could see their ambition and each season they have been improving,” she said. The key detail came next. “When they appointed Martin [Ho] as manager, I think that was a big statement because he is one of the best coaches I've worked with.”
Reunited with a coach who knows her best
Martin Ho, appointed Tottenham head coach this summer, knows exactly what he is getting. As assistant at Manchester United between 2020 and 2023, he saw Hanson up close. He understood her work-rate, her movement, her edge. Once in the Spurs job, he made her a priority signing. The club backed him, paying an undisclosed fee to bring her to north London.
“I know he gets the best out of me with the detail he puts in. I really think that will push me further on in my career,” Hanson said.
That detail matters. Her game thrives on structure and clarity: when to press, when to drift wide, when to attack the box.
Ho is already demanding more. Pre-season has been brutal by her own admission. “Training's been really tough. It was probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I've done so far. Martin is challenging us, trying to push us to our limits.
“That's what I really wanted, because I needed a challenge. I don't just want to be signed because they think I'm good, I want them to improve me.”
This is not a forward content with last season’s numbers. It is a player looking for a higher ceiling.
A sharper Spurs with serious competition
Tottenham finished fifth last season, a campaign that hinted at potential but also exposed the gap to the WSL’s elite. The target now is clear: crack the top three and reach the Women’s Champions League.
Hanson is one piece of a more aggressive puzzle. Spurs have brought in West Ham’s top scorer Shekiera Martinez, France defender Alice Sombath from Lyon and creative midfielder Victoria Pelova from Arsenal. These are not depth signings. They are upgrades aimed at changing the club’s status.
The result is a dressing room loaded with attacking options and a starting XI that suddenly feels hard to break into. Hanson welcomes that.
“I'm definitely comfortable [in the WSL] now but I still don't see myself as one of the best. I'm very critical of myself,” she admitted. “It's going to be tough. I'm not expecting anything. My main aim is just to be better because I've got so many levels to go to. Martin knows that as well.”
She knows the calibre of player around her. She wants to learn from them. She also wants to lead.
“I knew the level of players that were here. I'm just so excited to learn from them. I'm also here to help others, because that's what I've done at every club.
“I might not be the most talented but I've got a lot of fight and hunger in me. I literally run through a brick wall for my team. Hopefully I've showed them that.”
Numbers, grit, and a growing voice
Strip the emotion away and the data still screams value. Hanson didn’t just score for Villa; she drove their entire attacking output. Only two team-mates created more chances than her 16 last season. She had more touches in the opposition box than anyone else in claret and blue. Off the ball, she ranked among the top performers in her position for defensive actions, tackles, interceptions. She pressed, chased, harried. She did the ugly work and still finished among the league’s deadliest finishers.
Now she arrives at a club that wants to press higher, play quicker, and force games onto opponents. It fits.
There is another layer, too. Hanson talks like a player who has grown beyond just her role on the pitch. She holds a degree in sports coaching and speaks about game management, about knowing when to slow things down and when to spark them into life.
“I know what to do at different points in the game. I know how to calm players down,” she said. “Previously when I worked with Martin, I was younger and I wouldn't have been able to cope with that as much. But now I've definitely matured a lot.”
Tottenham are not just signing last season’s goals. They are signing that maturity, that voice, that willingness to shoulder responsibility in a squad aiming for the next tier.
On 6 September, Spurs open their WSL campaign at home to West Ham. The spotlight will fall on the new arrivals, the new coach, the new direction. Hanson may not be the loudest name on the teamsheet, but if her Villa form travels south, she could be the signing that turns Tottenham from hopeful challengers into genuine contenders.
